The Message Remix (268 page)

INTRODUCTIONAMOS

 

More people are exploited and abused in the cause of religion than in any other way. Sex, money, and power all take a backseat to religion as a source of evil.
Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind. The moment a person (or government or religion or organization) is convinced that God is either ordering or sanctioning a cause or project, anything goes.
The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering. The biblical prophets are in the front line of those doing something about it.

The biblical prophets continue to be the most powerful and effective voices ever heard on this earth for keeping religion honest, humble, and compassionate. Prophets sniff out injustice, especially injustice that is dressed up in religious garb. They sniff it out a mile away. Prophets see through hypocrisy, especially hypocrisy that assumes a religious pose. Prophets are not impressed by position or power or authority. They aren’t taken in by numbers, size, or appearances of success.

They pay little attention to what men and women say about God or do for God. They listen to God and rigorously test all human language and action against what they hear. Among these prophets, Amos towers as defender of the downtrodden poor and accuser of the powerful rich who use God’s name to legitimize their sin.

None of us can be trusted in this business. If we pray and worship God and associate with others who likewise pray and worship God, we absolutely must keep company with these biblical prophets. We are required to submit all our words and acts to their passionate scrutiny to prevent the perversion of our religion into something self-serving. A spiritual life that doesn’t give a large place to the prophet-articulated justice will end up making us worse instead of better, separating us from God’s ways instead of drawing us into them.

 

 

From:
Amos was in the livestock and feed business down in Judah, the southern kingdom. He didn’t belong to any of the communities of prophets who lived and prayed together. He was just an ordinary guy, aware of the goings-on across the border, up in Israel, but not meddling until God sent him north with a message.

 

To:
Israel’s foreign enemies were temporarily weak, so the national economy was booming. The smart and well-connected were raking in the cash. They hired lawyers to swindle small farmers out of their land, then built mansions and threw wild parties. The rich became super-rich, while ordinary people became servants and day laborers. And the rich gave God the glory, spending freely at shrines to thank him (and their other gods) for blessing them. Amos said God would shatter the country because of this social injustice.

 

Re:
About 765-755 B.C. Down in Judah the powerful were profiting too. King Uzziah enlarged Judah’s army, strengthened her defenses, and expanded trade. He was committed to God, but he let success go to his head. He decided he wanted to be a priest-king, the way things were in Jerusalem in Abraham’s day. When he barged into the Temple’s holy place to burn incense, God smacked him with leprosy, and he had to put the government into his son’s hands while he slowly died of the disease.